ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2483
(By Delegates Gallagher, Rowe and L. White)
[Passed March 25, 1993; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend chapter thirty-seven of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
by adding thereto a new article, designated article fifteen,
relating to factory-built home site rentals generally;
defining terms; requiring written agreements; limiting
liability of secured parties; prohibiting certain acts and
conduct; providing procedures for terminating tenancy;
limiting effect on taxation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That chapter thirty-seven of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new article, designated article fifteen, to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 15. HOUSE TRAILERS, MOBILE HOMES, MANUFACTURED HOMES AND
MODULAR HOMES.
§37-15-1. Purpose and applicability.
The purpose of this article is to recognize the distinctionbetween a house trailer, a mobile home, a manufactured home and
a modular home. While it is the intent of this article to
include the different classifications of factory-built homes into
a single category for the purposes of this article, it is also
the intent of this article to acknowledge the differences between
the various types of factory-built homes for other purposes.
In addition, it is the purpose of this article to clarify
the ambiguity and confusion related to the classification of
factory-built homes as real or personal property, particularly
relating to security interests. The provisions of this article
apply to factory-built homes, as defined herein, which are held
as personal property situated on real property owned by another
in conjunction with a landlord/tenant relationship.
§37-15-2. Definitions.
For the purposes of this article, unless expressly stated
otherwise:
(a) "Abandoned factory-built home" means a factory-built
home occupying a factory-built home site, pursuant to a written
agreement under which the tenant has defaulted in rent or the
landlord has exercised any right to terminate the rental
agreement;
(b) "Factory-built home" includes modular homes, mobile
homes, house trailers and manufactured homes;
(c) "Factory-built home rental community" means a parcel of
land under single or common ownership upon which two or more
factory-built homes are located on a continual, nonrecreational
basis together with any structure, equipment, road or facility
intended for use incidental to the occupancy of the factory-builthomes, but does not include premises used solely for storage or
display of uninhabited factory-built homes, or premises occupied
solely by a landowner and members of his family;
(d) "Factory-built home site" means a parcel of land within
the boundaries of a factory-built home rental community provided
for the placement of a single factory-built home and the
exclusive use of its occupants;
(e) "House trailers" means all trailers designed or intended
for human occupancy and commonly referred to as mobile homes or
house trailers, and shall include fold down camping and travel
trailers as these terms are defined in section one, article six,
chapter seventeen-a of this code, but only when such camping and
travel trailers are located in a factory-built home rental
community, as defined in this section, on a continual,
nonrecreational basis;
(f) "Landlord" means the factory-built home rental community
owner, lessor or sublessor of the factory-built home rental
community, or an agent or representative authorized to act on his
or her behalf in connection with matters relating to tenancy in
the community;
(g) "Manufactured home" has the same meaning as the term is
defined in section two, article nine, chapter twenty-one of this
code which meets the National Manufactured Housing Construction
and Safety Standards Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. §§5401 et seq.),
effective on the fifteenth day of June, one thousand nine hundred
seventy-six, and the federal manufactured home construction and
safety standards and regulations promulgated by the secretary of
the United States department of housing and urban development;
(h) "Mobile home" means a transportable structure that is
wholly, or in substantial part, made, fabricated, formed or
assembled in manufacturing facilities for installation or
assembly and installation on a building site and designed for
long-term residential use and built prior to enactment of the
Federal Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards
Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. §§5401 et seq.), effective on the
fifteenth day of June, one thousand nine hundred seventy-six, and
usually built to the voluntary industry standard of the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) - A119.1 Standards for Mobile
Homes;
(i) "Modular home" means any structure that is wholly, or in
substantial part, made, fabricated, formed or assembled in
manufacturing facilities for installation or assembly and
installation on a building site and designed for long-term
residential use and is certified as meeting the standards
contained in the state fire code encompassed in the legislative
rules promulgated by the state fire commission pursuant to
section five-b, article three, chapter twenty-nine of this code;
(j) "Owner" means one or more persons, jointly or severally,
in whom is vested (i) all or part of the legal title to the
factory-built home rental community, or (ii) all or part of the
beneficial ownership and right to present use and enjoyment of
the factory-built homesite or other areas specified in the rental
agreement, and the term includes a mortgagee in possession;
(k) "Rent" means payments made by the tenant to the landlord
for use of a factory-built home site and as payment for other
facilities or services provided by the landlord; and
(l) "Tenant" means a person entitled pursuant to a rental
agreement to occupy a factory-built home site to the exclusion of
others.
§37-15-3. Written agreement required.
(a) The rental and occupancy of a factory-built home site
shall be governed by a written agreement which shall be dated and
signed by all parties thereto prior to commencement of tenancy.
A copy of the signed and dated written agreement and a copy of
this article shall be given by the landlord to the tenant within
seven days after the tenant signs the written agreement.
(b) The written agreement, in addition to the provisions
otherwise required by law to be included, shall contain:
(1) The terms of the tenancy and the rent therefor;
(2) The rules and regulations of the factory-built home
rental community. A copy of the text of the rules and
regulations attached as an exhibit satisfies this requirement;
(3) The language of the provisions of this article. A copy
of the text of this article attached as an exhibit satisfies this
requirement;
(4) A description of the physical improvements and
maintenance to be provided by the tenant and the landlord during
the tenancy; and
(5) A provision listing those services which will be
provided at the time the rental agreement is executed and will
continue to be offered for the term of tenancy and the fees, if
any, to be charged for those services.
(c) The written agreement may not contain:
(1) Any provisions contrary to the provisions of thisarticle and shall not contain a provision prohibiting the tenant
who owns his or her factory-built home from selling his or her
factory-built home;
(2) Any provision that requires the tenant to pay any
recurring charges except fixed rent, utility charges or
reasonable incidental charges for services or facilities supplied
by the landlord; or
(3) Any provision by which the tenant waives his or her
rights under the provisions of this article.
(d) When any person possesses a security interest in the
factory-built home, the written agreement or rental application
shall contain the name and address of any secured parties. The
written agreement shall require the tenant to notify the landlord
within ten days of any new security interest, change of existing
security interest, or settlement or release of the security
interest.
(e) When a factory-built home owner sells a factory-built
home, the new owner shall enter into a written agreement if the
factory-built home continues to occupy the site:
Provided,
That
the new owner meets the standards and restrictions contained in
the prior rental agreement.
§37-15-4. Liability of secured party taking possession of an
abandoned factory-built home.
(a) A secured party is not liable for rent to a landlord
except as provided below:
(1) When a factory-built home subject to a security interest
becomes an abandoned factory-built home, the landlord shall mail
a notice of abandonment to the owner of the factory-built homeand the secured party by certified mail, at the addresses shown
in the rental agreement or rental application. The notice shall
include any rental agreement previously signed by the tenant and
the landlord, and shall also provide the landlord's current
mailing address;
(2) A secured party who has a security interest in an
abandoned factory-built home, and who has taken title to the
factory-built home under court order or under the applicable
security agreement, is liable to the landlord under the same
rental agreement terms as agreed on by the tenant and the
landlord prior to the accrual of a right of possession by the
secured party;
(3) Subject to any defenses the tenant may have, when the
tenant has failed to comply with the terms of the written rental
agreement regarding rent and payment of fees, the tenant remains
liable to the landlord for all rent and services provided during
the period while the secured party is attempting to gain title or
exercise a right of possession to the factory-built home:
Provided,
That when the landlord has terminated the rental
agreement, the tenant shall not be liable for further rent or
payment of fees to the landlord. The secured party is not liable
to the landlord or tenant for rent or services until the secured
party completes foreclosure proceedings under the terms of the
security agreement or otherwise takes title or exercises a right
of possession to the factory-built home; or
(4) Upon completion of foreclosure proceedings, acquiring
title to or the exercise of a right of possession to the secured
party, the secured party shall immediately notify the landlord ofthe completion of such proceedings by certified mail at the
address provided in the landlord's notice of default. After the
conveyance of title to or the exercise of a right of possession
to the secured party, the secured party shall have ten business
days to remove the factory-built home. If a secured party who
has a security interest in an abandoned factory-built home takes
title to or possession of the factory-built home and the
factory-built home remains in the factory-built home rental
community for a period longer than ten business days, the
relationship between the secured party and the landlord shall be
governed by the rental agreement previously signed by the tenant
and the landlord, except that the term of the rental agreement
shall convert to a month-to-month tenancy. No waiver is required
to convert the rental agreement to a month-to-month tenancy.
Either the landlord or the secured party may terminate the
month-to-month tenancy upon giving written notice of a desire to
terminate to the other party thirty days or more in advance of
the proposed date of termination. The secured party and the
landlord may enter into a subsequent agreement but are not
required to execute a new rental agreement.
(b) Nothing in this section may be construed to be a waiver
of any rights by the tenant.
§37-15-5. Demands and charges prohibited; access by tenant's
invitee; purchases by factory-built home owner not
restricted; exception; conditions of occupancy.
(a) A landlord may not demand or collect:
(1) Any fee which is not listed in the rental agreement;
(2) An entrance fee for the privilege of renting oroccupying a factory-built home site;
(3) A commission on the sale of a factory-built home located
in the factory-built home rental community unless the tenant
expressly employs the landlord to perform a service in connection
with the sale, but employment of the landlord by the tenant may
not be a condition or term of the initial sale or rental; or
(4) A fee for improvements or installations on the interior
of a factory-built home, unless the tenant expressly employs the
landlord to perform a service in connection with such
installation, improvement or sale.
(b) An invitee of the tenant has free access to the tenant's
factory-built home site without charge unless a court of
competent jurisdiction has ordered otherwise.
(c) A factory-built home owner may not be restricted in his
or her choice of vendors from whom he or she may purchase his or
her (i) factory-built home, except in connection with the initial
renting of a newly constructed factory-built home site not
previously rented to any other person, or (ii) goods and
services. However, nothing in this article prohibits a landlord
from prescribing reasonable requirements governing, as a
condition of occupancy, the style, size or quality of the
factory-built home, or other structures placed on the factory-
built home site.
§37-15-6. Termination of tenancy.
(a) Either party may terminate a rental agreement which is
for a term of thirty days or more by giving written notice to the
other party at least thirty days prior to the termination date:
Provided,
That the rental agreement may specify a period ofnotice in excess of thirty days. A landlord may not cause the
eviction of a tenant by willfully interrupting gas, electricity,
water or any other essential service, or by removal of the
factory-built home from the factory-built home site, or by any
other willful self-help measure.
(b) A rental agreement may be terminated by the landlord for
the following reasons:
(1) Failure to comply with the terms of the rental
agreement;
(2) Condemnation of the community; or
(3) Change of use of the community:
Provided,
That all
requirements imposed by this chapter are complied with.
(c) The landlord shall set forth in a notice of termination
the reason relied upon for the termination with specific facts to
permit determination of the date, place, witnesses and
circumstances concerning that reason.
§37-15-7. Retaliatory conduct prohibited.
(a) Except as provided in this section, or as otherwise
provided by law, a landlord may not retaliate by selectively
increasing rent or decreasing services or by bringing or
threatening to bring an action for possession after the landlord
has knowledge that: (1) The tenant has complained to a
governmental agency charged with responsibility for enforcement
of a building or housing code of a violation applicable to the
premises materially affecting health or safety; (2) the tenant
has made a complaint to or filed a suit against the landlord for
a violation of any provision of this article; (3) the tenant has
organized or become a member of a tenant's organization; or (4)the tenant has testified in a court proceeding against the
landlord.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this
section, a landlord may terminate the rental agreement pursuant
to subsection (b), section six of this article unless the
magistrate or circuit court finds that the reason for the
termination was retaliation.
§37-15-8. Effect on taxation.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to affect the
taxation of factory-built homes.